GenBuild to Build Symbian Programs

GenBuild is a Symbian tool that allows you to build several programs for several targets using one command. It is useful when you are developing several components and want to build all of them with one shot. It is basically a wrapper of the well known bldmake and abld script.

Imagine that you are working with several other developers and each of them is developing a component. When you receive updates from them, you copy their code to your local hard disk and then build each component by executing "bldmake bldfiles" and "abld build" command. In other words you have to do it several times. GenBuild will make your life easier by allowing you to execute only one command.

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At the end of this article, you will find an example how to compile all Series 60 SDK examples using GenBuild.

How to Use GenBuild?

GenBuild basically creates several scripts which you call to perform specific tasks. For example, GenBuild will create a script, called myprograms_build.cmd, to build your programs for all targets, like WINS or ARMI. 字串8

What you have to do to use GenBuild is to create a text file containing a list of your programs. For example, you have three programs, called program1, program2 and program3. Each of them is stored in a directory with the same name as the program name. Now create a text file, called myprograms.txt, and copy and paste the list below.

There are two columns in this list. The first column indicates the names of the programs or components. It is useful when you want to view the log file of your build process. The second column indicates the directories where the components are stored, relative to the current directory. 字串2

Now we are ready to run GenBuild. Type the following command to run it.

GenBuild will create several scripts, which you use to build your programs. The following command will build all of your programs for all the default targets, i.e. WINS, ARMI and ARM4.

You can also build for a certain platform only, for example WINS, with the following command.

Unfortunately, you cannot specify the configuration, UDEB or UREL, in this script. It will compile for both UDEB and UREL. However, there are some other scripts that allows you to compile for one configuration only. The following commands show how to compile for ARMI UREL.

The table below shows the scripts generated by GenBuild and the equivalent standard build commands (see the abld syntax command at the end of this article to find out more about the equivalent command). 字串2

GenBuild Commands	Symbian Commands
myprograms_bldfiles.cmd	bldmake bldfiles
myprograms_export.cmd	abld export
myprograms_makefile.cmd	abld makefile
myprograms_library.cmd	abld library
myprograms_resource.cmd	abld resource
myprograms_target.cmd	abld target
myprograms_final.cmd	abld final
myprograms_check.cmd	abld -check build
myprograms_what.cmd	abld -what build
myprograms_clean.cmd	abld clean
myprograms_reallyclean.cmd	abld reallyclean
myprograms_build.cmd	Combination of all above scripts
myprograms_pbuild.cmd	The alternative script to compile for a certain target

You can also specify some options in GenBuild, like savespace or keepgoing. For example, the GenBuild list below will add -savespace option when compiling the programs.

Another example the use of options is to add THUMB and WINSCW platform since by default GenBuild will only build for WINS, ARMI and ARM4 platforms.

How to Compile Series 60 Examples Using GenBuild?

To give you a better understanding of GenBuild, take a look at the following file, series60ex.txt, which builds all of Series 60 SDK 2.x examples. Create this file in \series60ex directory in your Series 60 SDK installation.

You can build them using the command below

or with the following commands to build for WINS only.

Further Reading

bldmake Command Syntax - The syntax of bldmake command from Symbian site.
abld Command Syntax Overview - The syntax of abld command from Symbian site. 字串7